Are you searching:

• To deepen your relationship with Christ,to commit your life more deeply to following Christ?
• Do you feel called to live this life within the ordinary circumstances of life being as "salt for the earth and light for the world"?

A Secular Ursuline lives a life of total commitment to Christ, ever deepening this relationship through contemplative prayer, and living the fruit of this relationship in every act and moment of her life. Secular Ursulines maintain a network of spiritual companionship and mutual support, meeting periodically throughout the year.

The Company of St Ursula was founded by St Angela Merici in Brescia, in northern Italy, on 25 November, 1535. St Angela gathered a group of women together who promised their lives to God and to live the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience while remaining in their own homes and places of work. At the time, St Ursula was a very popular saint, many educational institutions often being named after her. St Ursula is believed to have been a fourth century British princess who led a group of companions on pilgrimage to Rome prior to her intended marriage. She and her companions were martyred at Cologne in Germany on their return home. For St Angela, Ursula represented a woman who was unflinching in her courage and faithful commitment to her God, a woman who supported her female companions in their spiritual quest. For such an unusual life of living consecrated life in the world, St Ursula seemed to St Angela a more than worthy patroness to give the first members of the Company. Today there are more than a thousand members in more than twenty countries across the world, with expansion in Asia- Pacific countries in recent years. Both Sts Angela and Ursula were women who had the faith and confidence to hear the Spirit of Truth speaking in their hearts and the courage to be different in order to live that truth.

As an Institute of Consecrated Life, members of the Company of St Ursula live a celibate life and publicly profess the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. As a Secular Institute, the Secular Ursulines do not reside together in community, nor have a specific work, e.g. education, that they undertake. Rather, each one works in her own chosen profession, lives alone, or with family, and is financially independent. The mission of the Secular Ursuline is to be as "salt for the earth and light for the world" where ever she is and in whatever she does in order that the Reign of God may grow in our world.

In Australia, membership of the Company of St Ursula is currently through the French Company of St Ursula. The outreach of the French Company of St Ursula also includes the Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Singapore.

Do you have the courage to risk being part of the growth of the Company of St Ursula in Australia?